Christian. Feminist. Nerd. Traveler

What an awesome week! My two besties, Lindsay and Emily, came on Sunday and left on Sunday, which means that this is the perfect forum to discuss all the amazing things we did together.

In general, there was a lot of eating and drinking and talking. In particular, I had such a good time being with people who know me at a deep level. I was just talking to Anthi an hour ago about how hard it can be to spend time with family and friends from your childhood because they see you as the person you used to be. I feel really lucky because Emily and Lindsay knew teenage self-conscious and self-righteous Tricia, but they’ve somehow allowed me to grow up and treat me as the person I have become. It’s the perfect comforting relationship, and I’m really grateful for both of them.

I’m also grateful for our mutual agreement on what constitutes a good time. For instance, on Tuesday, we listened through the entire Hamilton soundtrack while cutting each other’s hair in my living room. And any time someone suggested that we not do the thing we had planned on doing…everyone else said YES MORE SWEATPANTS TIME. I love my socially lazy friends.

It was nice that neither Emily nor Lindsay were super into Greek history or archeology, so they spent one day being tourists and the other two with me at HD. They threw two mini-parties during our Day Program: a Mary Kay makeup party and a jewelry making lesson/party. I think everyone had a good time, and I really enjoyed seeing my friends contribute their talents to this place that I love.

The big thing we planned on doing together was: Getting Tattoos! On Wednesday, we all got inked. Not the same design, but individual tattoos received together. I like the symbolism of that, that we are tied together while still being unique. And I like that I will always be able to look at my quotation marks (explanation post coming soon) and have them connect me to my time in Athens and to my besties!

The other big thing we planned was a weekend trip to Santorini! The island was amaaaaazing, and we three travel at the same pace (aka we went to bed at 8:30 p.m. without apology). It was a really lovely weekend, but I made a video about it, so I’m not going to rewrite everything I want to say about it.

I loved having Lindsay and Emily in Athens with me. I wish they could be here all the time! But I’m glad that I will get to see them soon when I go back to Peoria for the holidays. And hopefully they will come see me again next year!